We are very grateful to Mike Norman of Bristol Law Centre for the following guest post on the current position on possession claims and notice periods in Wales. Keeping up with England has been more than enough for me, so this is extremely welcome. The...
Here come the new rules, (not quite) the same as the old rules – Notice periods
In that delightfully wilful way that we housing lawyers have come to know and love*, the Govt chose Friday afternoon 28 August to drop The Coronavirus Act 2020 (Residential Tenancies: Protection from Eviction) (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2020 on an...
Possession claims, present and predicted.
A round up of where we are on possession claims, notices, etc. and then what we will need to know for the future. This post is, of course, a hostage to fortune. The present moment stuff is right, but if the Govt goes the high risk route of retrospective...
From March to September – possession stay extended.
The stay on possession claims imposed by CPR 55.29 was due to end on Sunday 23 August. In an extraordinary, after the last minute, step, on 20 August 2020 the Lord Chancellor directed the Master of the Rolls and the Civil Procedure Rules Committee to amend...
Mystery directions
In the evening of Friday 17 July, The Civil Procedure (Amendment No. 4) (Coronavirus) Rules 2020 appeared, having apparently been laid earlier that day. These will come into force on 23 August 2020. What the Rules do is amend the Civil Procedure Rules to add...
New Homelessness Statutory Guidance for England – priority need
Today, 29 June 2020, MHCLG issued an update to the statutory Homelessness code of guidance for local authorities. The relevant updates are to the chapter on priority need and consist of a new paragraph 8.44 and 8.45, as follows: 8.44 COVID-19: Housing...
Here comes the new stay, same as the old stay
There is more detail on the stay of possession proceedings that will replace Practice Direction 51Z on 25 June 2020. But first there is an amendment to PD 51Z. The amendment came out today, 11 June 2020 and is effective immediately. Here is the 121st...
When 52 is also 51 because 55.
London Borough of Hackney v Okoro (2020) EWCA Civ 681 An appeal to the Court of Appeal on the issue of whether appeals of possession orders (or indeed appeals from Part 55 possession proceedings generally) are caught by the Practice Direction 51Z stay of...
What to do, what to do, what to do?
The Housing, Communities and Local Government Commons Select Committee has published an interim report on protecting rough sleepers and renters through the Coronavirus pandemic. The key recommendations are: i) on rough sleeping and homelessness, a serious...
This is how it ends, not with a bang but a viewing.
If I am honest, this is not how I anticipated the apocalypse to look. The streets deserted apart from roving estate agents, dead eyes above the mask, looking for someone, anyone, to force into a viewing in an enclosed space. But that is what the Government...
Optimism of the will, pessimism of the intellect
According to this Inside Housing report of a Housing, Communities and Local Government Select Committee meeting today (4 May), the Housing Minister Robert Jenrick announced prospective measures to avoid a deluge of eviction proceedings at the expiry of the...
Practice Direction 51Z – to Stay Possession Proceedings
Following the announcement yesterday evening, here is the 117th Practice Direction Update to the Civil Procedure Rules – Coronavirus Pandemic related. This introduces Practice Direction 51Z The Master of the Rolls and the Lord Chancellor have signed Practice...